Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 21, 1994 TAG: 9412210094
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Jayson David Lamanca did a slow wake-up in his mother's arms, while his grandmother, Brenda Jamison, put together his new white stroller with black-and-white striped cushions.
The stroller construction went quickly, Jamison said: No screws, just parts that snap.
Little else is easy for the Lamanca and Jamison families this season.
Jayson's dad, Dave, who helped select the stroller, won't get to see his son - born Nov. 30 - ride in it.
Lamanca was one of three Western Virginians who died Sept.8 when USAir Flight 427 crashed in a ravine near Pittsburgh.
He was 27, and he and his wife of four years, Kristi Jamison Lamanca, were expecting their first child. They'd chosen the names for the baby - Eryn Michel if a girl, Jayson David for a boy.
Dave and Kristi put the baby's crib together about two weeks before Dave's death. They also had shopped for the family Christmas presents, which Kristi has wrapped and put under the tree.
Dark-haired, handsome, smiling, Dave is everywhere in his family's lives this season, except he's not here.
"Sometimes I stay busy, and I don't think about it," Kristi said. "But sometimes when I'm up with the baby at night, I miss him more than I thought I could."
Kristi and Dave grew up in the Roanoke Valley but didn't meet until 1985, when both were attending the University of Virginia. Their roommates at UVa, Robert and Andrea Acosta of Centerville, have agreed to be Jayson's godparents.
Andrea, mother of two boys, was in the delivery room with Kristi when Jayson was born.
A week later, she was back in town to bring Kristi a pair of "it's a boy" earrings, which have a gold, baby-shaped charm inset with a blue stone.
"I knew I had good friends before, but ...'' Kristi lets the rest of the statement trail away.
The Acostas have been "burning up the road between here and Northern Virginia," she said.
Dave was best man in Robert and Andrea's wedding. Robert's father, the Rev. William Acosta, officiated when Dave and Kristi were married. The minister also will christen Jayson.
Close families and a strong network of friends - Dave coached Little League and officiated varsity basketball - have lent support to Kristi. About 30 people waited at the hospital for Jayson's arrival. On a recent Saturday, 15 people came to see him, Kristi said.
A golf scholarship the family established in Dave's name at Salem High School has almost $18,000 in it.
Kristi and Dave both worked for their families' companies. He was business manger at Chesapeake X-Ray, owned by his parents, John and Shirley Lamanca. Kristi has been office manager at Heritage Builders, the construction company owned by her father, Lewis Jamison.
Kristi plans to return to work, at least part time, after the holidays. Her mother has stayed with her most nights, but it's time to try to get back to normal, Kristi said.
Kristi has heard the horror stories of other victims' families being hounded by lawyers after the air crash, but she hasn't had that experience. She got a few letters and some phone calls, but no one persisted, she said.
Things have gone "pretty good," she said.
She had hoped to have her late husband's name engraved on an honorary brick at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., which the two visited together twice, but the amusement complex wouldn't allow an in-memoriam brick.
She put Jayson's name on it instead.
"Having Jayson helps a little bit for everybody," Kristi said.
She compared Jayson with her baby picture and said she decided he looked a lot like her. Then she compared him with Dave's baby picture, and "he looked a lot like him. In fact, Dave and I looked a lot alike as babies."
"He does have a dimple on the same side as Dave did," Kristi said.
by CNB